“Cargo” is a short film with no dialogue. It follows a man and his effort to save his daughter during a zombie outbreak. The main protagonist and his wife are fleeing the zombie overrun city with their daughter when things go very wrong. In a freak car crash, our hero’s wife is killed and unfortunately turned into a zombie. Our hero is unfortunately bitten by his now zombified wife, making him infected. He takes a moment to come up with a plan. Instead of losing hope, he decides to get his infant daughter to safety. He takes her car seat and makes a backpack to carry her in. Once he does that, he makes sure she is secured to his back and can not possibly fall out of the seat or off of his back. He then finds raw meat and hangs it in front of him so that when he turns, it will draw him forward, so he continues to walk even after his death.
He walks for two days straight, not stopping, trying to find someone to give his daughter to. When he finally comes across people, they see he is a zombie and shoot him. They do not give him much thought till they hear crying. When they inspect his body, they find his daughter and a note. The note tells the people the baby’s name and the circumstances that led them there. The people decide to take the baby in and raise her. And the story ends.
The story takes place during the day. The cinematography works with that. Everything is medium shots or closer, and natural lighting is used. Moving shots are used while the main character is moving, for obvious reasons. The movement is always right to left. This has a story element as the home with people that finds the hero’s daughter is left side oriented on screen. The idea being that he is moving that way.
The dramatic structure of the short film is well put together. The climax occurs as he is shot as a zombie, releasing all the tension in that moment. Being a short film with no dialogue, the first and second acts move really quickly. The crash and hero being infected all happen in the first act. The second act encompasses the journey he goes on to find a safe place for his daughter, ultimately finding it in the climax.
The production design was appropriately minimal. A car, a house, and a myriad of other small props are used to set the scene. A lot of the props were used on our hero’s person. Things like a backpack, harness, the baby, and other things he uses, are props that really give the story its life. Furthermore, the make – up effects done on him to make him look like a zombie were feature film level.
The sound design is intentionally empty. Using minimal forest sounds, wind, movement like footsteps, and moans and groans, the film’s sound design created a very quiet solemn world. Certain sounds like a car and a gunshot were the most obvious designs. But to me the baby’s cries and his groans as a zombie were the most important story elements brought to life by sound design.
The editing of the film was really well done in my opinion. It started off immediately into a car crash, immediately drawing you into the drama. The opening scenes are very slow, drawing out the pain of losing a loved one, and the drama of having to save your daughter before you turn into a zombie. After that, the pace quickens, giving the feel of an adventure, going on a hike to find the unknown.
My premise is a romantic comedy short film that ends with a twist. Some of the things done well in Cargo can make my film a success. Sound design for example. Using ambient sound design to add atmosphere to a restaurant atmosphere. Especially helpful to cover the fact that I have no extras to fill that atmosphere.
The challenges faced by my crew and I are one of lack of resources. My crew and I are going to need to create a world without any resources to create it. Using peak sound design to create atmosphere is one way to do this. Some of our more creative ideas are to use our background sets to maximum effect. Also keeping our shots within a closer range like 50mm and 35mm will maintain our audience’s focus on what we do have in our film and not what is absent.
Zach Rudden Filmmaker 